What is the value of conveyancing to your business?

26 October 2015

Homemovers have the potential to open up a whole world of opportunities for law firms beyond the instructed conveyance.

For most a house purchase is the first time they will be brought into contact with the legal services sector. It stands to reason that, as first through the door, this puts your law firm in prime position to develop a lasting relationship with this client who may have significant “lifetime value” to the practice.

In the short term homemover(s) are best advised to ensure they have a Will; this creates the potential to cross-refer your law firm’s service for such (you may even incorporate a Will into your conveyancing services). Further down the line who is to say that your client could not become a successful businessman in their own right? Or require some advice on a clinical negligence matter? Or become involved in an employment dispute?

According to research a home move is one of the top 5 most stressful experiences in anyone’s life. Professional services are rarely an impulse purchase; so your conduct and service delivery is the barometer by which you ensure you are the preferred choice for future legal requirements. As the existing service provider you are in pole position to build on your relationship and achieve this.

Top tips to boost your enquiry handling:

Measure – what gets measured gets done as the saying goes. What is your current conversion rate? What are your top five sources of work? What is the main reason clients give who don’t instruct you? Having this data will help you make informed management decisions around business development, recruitment and forecasting

Sales process – a dirty word in professional services, but you should have in place a system for dealing with initial enquiries and following them up. The largest firms and panels already do this well and it’s one of the reasons the big are getting bigger.

Know your value – don’t assume all clients want a cheap price but be prepared to justify why a client should choose you

Manage client expectations and then exceed them – one of the biggest issues in conveyancing is communication so make sure your client know what to expect; price in such a way that you can deliver the work and explain exactly what the client paying for

Seek feedback and act on it – Your conduct and service delivery is the barometer by which you will ensure you are the preferred choice for this client’s future legal needs

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A recent Legal Futures article reported that the number complaints involving use of social media by barristers is increasing. The BSB have warned that “as social media and the internet become more prominent in our daily lives, there is an increasing need for barristers to be very careful about what they post whether in their professional or personal lives”. While inappropriate use of social media isn’t anything new, what struck me when reading that paragraph is that, for barristers, I would argue, there shouldn’t be a defining line between the personal and professional. As a barrister, you are your own USP, your personal brand is everything.